Luxury Air Clubs: Learn to Travel in Style

Airport Country Clubs: Crazy Lounges

Is the thrill of flying gone? For most people these days, a commercial flight seems like a nightmare. You question whether the bags are getting better treatment than the passengers. While airlines are cutting back on amenities for coach travelers, they are shelling out big bucks to upgrade their first-class service. There are new seats with more entertainment options and larger lounges as airports try to pamper customers who pay top dollar for their flights.

Cathay Pacific just opened a new lounge in Hong Kong called "The Cabin" that has an ultra-modern design. Its "IT Zone" is equipped with high-speed internet access, plenty of PCs and Macs, iPads and even a video-conference room.

Courtesy Cathay Pacific

Airport Country Clubs: Crazy Lounges

Is the thrill of flying gone? For most people these days, a commercial flight seems like a nightmare. You question whether the bags are getting better treatment than the passengers. While airlines are cutting back on amenities for coach travelers, they are shelling out big bucks to upgrade their first-class service. There are new seats with more entertainment options and larger lounges as airports try to pamper customers who pay top dollar for their flights.<p>
<a href="http://www.cathaypacific.com/cpa/en_US/homepage" target="external">Cathay Pacific</a> just opened a new lounge in Hong Kong called "The Cabin" that has an ultra-modern design. Its "IT Zone" is equipped with high-speed internet access, plenty of PCs and Macs, iPads and even a video-conference room.

Courtesy Cathay Pacific

Airport Country Clubs: Crazy Lounges

The <a href=" http://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airlines/home/au/en" target="external">Qantas</a> First Lounge features an ultra-contemporary design. The lounge includes a vertical garden featuring more than 8,400 plants, an open kitchen restaurant and leather lounge chairs, recliners and sofas.

Courtesy Qantas

Pre-Flight Drinking? An Airport Biergarten

The Emirates Airlines business class lounge in Dubai is themed around the concepts of Fire, Water, Air and Earth. There are plenty of free drinks and snacks for passengers but for those who really want the luxury treatment, the spa there offers beauty and massage therapies and hairstyling.

Courtesy Emirates Airlines

Luxury Air Clubs

At Lufthansa's new business class lounge in Munich, travelers are treated to their very own beer garden. In cooperation with Munich's Franziskaner brewery, Lufthansa passengers will enjoy draught beer tapped from the barrel and Bavarian pretzels while relaxing at traditional beer tables.

Lufthansa

Luxury Air Travel

Here is the first-class cabin of British Airways. Besides champagne, large seats and more than 200 entertainment choices, first-class passengers are also served afternoon tea. How British.

British Airways

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When boarding time arrives, Lufthansa shuttles its top customers from this first-class lounge directly to their plane in a car. Fliers have a choice of a chauffeured Mercedes S-Class or a Porsche Cayenne.

Lufthansa

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Virgin Atlantic calls its lounges The Clubhouse. At London's Heathrow, the lounge features a roof garden where passengers can watch the airport in action or do a little sunbathing before their flight. Another part called The Den features a pool table and retro video games.

Virgin Atlantic

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Virgin's lounge features an area called The Gallery with sweeping views of the airport and comfortable seating that the airline called "perfect for that preflight snooze."

Virgin Atlantic

Luxury Air Clubs: Learn to Travel in Style

Cathay Pacific's elite fliers who land at Hong Kong International Airport can get a bit of rest and relaxation at the airline's year-old lounge, called the Arrival, which dedicates itself exclusively to passengers arriving in Hong Kong. The lounge is modeled after the airline's two departure lounges at the airport, the Wing and the Pier.

Courtesy Cathay Pacific

Luxury Air Clubs: Learn to Travel in Style

Inside Cathay Pacific's Arrival lounge in Hong Kong, there is a buffet dining area, desktop computers with Internet access and Wi-Fi, and a full range of local and international newspapers. But the best feature might be the eight fully equipped shower suites, allowing arriving passengers to freshen up before their meetings.

Courtesy Cathay Pacific

Luxury Air Travel

First-class lounges are a place where customers can relax and get away from the noise and crowds of airport terminals. They often offer travelers a larger space, Internet connections and food. As airlines compete for the valued business travelers, they are increasing the amenities in the latest airline war.
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Here is Air France's lounge at Terminal 2E in Paris' Charles de Gaulle International Airport.

Air France

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The Clubhouse has a cocktail bar, a deli for a light snack and The Brasserie for a bit larger meal. The menu there features everything from a cooked breakfast to bangers and mash to burgers and salads.

Virgin Atlantic

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At Lufthansa's first-class terminal in Frankfurt, Germany, guests are met by a personal assistant who accompanies them through passport control and security. The 11,840-square-foot lounge features leather armchairs and sofas in various earth and brown shades. It includes a cigar lounge, office spaces and a dining area filled with marble.

Lufthansa

Luxury Air Travel

Virgin Atlantic opened in November 2009 a new Clubhouse at London's Gatwick Airport that is more than 8,500 square feet. With seating for 130 passengers, the Clubhouse offers passengers places to read a newspaper or catch up on work, watch aircraft, settle down to brunch, have a treatment in the Cowshed Spa or catch up with the Internet before they jet off.

Courtesy Virgin Atlantic

Luxury Air Travel

Need to freshen up after that overnight flight? Most lounges provide private bathroom areas where customers can take a hot shower and feel refreshed upon their arrival at their final destination.
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Here is one of Air France's shower facilities at its arrival lounge in Paris.

Air France

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Got a kink in your neck or feeling a little bit stressed? Air France offers luxury travelers massages in its Paris lounge.

Air France

Luxury Air Travel

The airlines hope that their first-class passengers will get plenty of sleep on the plane. British Airways, like most airlines, offers a flat bed surrounded by walls or screens to provide privacy. British Airways offers 14 individual "cabins" on its Boeing 747s and up to 17 on its Being 777s.

British Airways

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British Airways last year moved most of its flights at London Heathrow Airport to the new Terminal 5. The terminal features five lounge areas that together, the airline says, make up the largest lounge complex in the world.